This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A recent University of Maryland study confirms that those who watch Fox News daily are significantly more likely than those who never watch it to believe that:
• Most economists estimate the stimulus caused job losses. (It has created millions of jobs.)
• Most economists estimate that the health care bill will worsen the deficit. (Most estimate it will reduce the deficit.)
• The economy is getting worse. (It is improving.)
• Most scientists do not agree that climate change is occurring. (Scientists are at near consensus that it is.)
• The stimulus did not include tax cuts. (Forty percent of it was in tax cuts to the middle class and small businesses.)
• Their own income taxes have gone up. (They have gone down.)
• The auto bailout only occurred under President Barack Obama. (The program was initiated by President George W. Bush.)
• Most Republican congressmen opposed TARP, the Troubled Asset Relief Program. (Republicans overwhelmingly voted for it.)
• It is not clear that Obama was born in the United States. (His birth certificate has been authenticated by experts.)
Fox News intentionally misinforms. It can better advance its far-right agenda when its viewers are ignorant.
Jim Sargent
Salt Lake City